This disclosure relates to the field of computer systems. More particularly, a system, apparatus, and methods are provided for automatically populating an addressee field of a message when the sender of the message transmits or forwards a content item.
A recipient of a content item such as a video clip, an audio file, or a document, is often more receptive to or more interested in the content when he or she knows or has some personal or professional connection to the sender. For example, when a user of an online service receives content forwarded from a friend who also uses the service, he or she generally is more likely to consume it (e.g., watch it, listen to it, read it) than if it was blindly sent by the service or by some other entity with which he or she has no personal or professional connection.
However, content originators and other entities that wish to distribute content to users matching some target criteria (and/or particular users) generally do not have close connections to all of the target users. They may therefore be limited to traditional solutions such as paying a publisher (e.g., a web site operator) to place their content before those users. The target users, however, may be likely to ignore the content because it is deemed to be an advertisement or other blindly delivered message.